Show-Stopper
by whatplanetdididial
Summary: An Adventure/Tamers crossover in which Ishida Yamato learns that he really doesn't like vortexes. Or Matsuda Takato.


**Show-Stopper**

 _because being told by a dimension-traveler that you're going to marry your crush is more likely going to ruin your chances with her than help them_

 _*.*.*.*_

" _Girls have this uncanny ability to get you to do things that you never would have done otherwise, and the moment you realize you've been willingly letting it happen, it'll already be too late. She'll have snuck her way into your heart and there'll be nothing you can do about it."_

The flashback came without warning as he stood watching Taichi and Sora fight each other for the last open swing of the playground. It originally looked like Sora was going to win, but at the last second, Taichi briefly glanced over at him and whispered into her ear, causing her to whip around and retort something back that Yamato was too far away to hear. In the end, Sora gave up the seat and Taichi plunked himself down with a victorious grin.

It was almost comical that the old memory came to him today, of all days. When he was originally given the 'puberty and crushes' speech, his father's words went in one ear and out the other. Girls were nothing but trouble, and there was no way he'd ever succumb to their wily charms. Falling in love only ended in disaster and he wanted no part in it.

"You've got that look like you'd rather be anywhere else but here."

But now, his dad's advice was all starting to click into place, whether he was ready to face it or not.

Cursing his inattentiveness, he turned to face her and wondered how long she had been standing next to him. Her head was tilted to the side and she was smiling teasingly at him, making him tense up slightly. He never knew how to feel about Sora's unique talent of reading him so easily, especially since she was particularly hard to read herself.

"I just don't want to intrude, you know?" he replied, shrugging his shoulders indifferently.

Almost everyone knew that Taichi and Sora went to the playground after school on Fridays. Yamato found it a bit odd since 14 seemed to be too old to still be going to the playground, but apparently it was a tradition that started when they were little, and according to Taichi, they'd be going to the playground every Friday until they were 50. He should have never accepted their invite.

"It's not intruding, Yamato, we want you here!"

It wasn't like he didn't enjoy hanging out with the two of them together; the problem was that there were times when it was painfully obvious that Taichi and Sora were so much closer to each other than he was with either of them. And after finally caving in to their 20,938th invite, here he was, as expected, feeling incredibly awkward. And maybe, possibly, even a tiny bit jealous.

"Come on, let's go sit on those animal springy things."

She took his hand and dragged him over to the blacktop where the playground equipment was designed to look like different animals on large, metal springs for young children to sit and rock back and forth on. Sora eventually dropped his hand and dashed for one that was yellow and shaped like a duck and immediately pointed to the one next to her that was supposed to be a gray dog.

"If you squint hard enough, it kinda looks like Gabumon," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

A bright smile lit up her face the moment she started swaying, and Yamato found himself staring at her longer than was probably appropriate. Flushed and embarrassed, he diverted his eyes to look back at Taichi, who happened to be engaged in a swinging competition with a kid next to him, the two laughing hysterically as they climbed higher and higher. He felt a pang of envy as his best friends let loose, carefree of any ridicule or judgment. Why did he have to be such a stick in the mud?

"You know, if you think you're too good for the playground, you didn't have to come."

His head snapped around to look back at Sora, but she wore a playful smile that had him letting out a silent sigh of relief.

"Come on, Yamato, sit down with me, please? You don't even have to move or anything, you can just sit still. If you want, I'll tell everyone I blackmailed you into doing it so you don't lose your 'cool image,'" she smirked, gesturing widely at the entire playground. Her mocking tone wasn't lost on him as he looked around and confirmed that the three of them were easily the only ones over eight years old.

"Well, if you insist," he trailed as he sat down on the proffered spring rider.

"I do."

It took him less than two seconds to realize he was too large for the toy. He could hardly fit himself onto saddle part and his legs were so long that he had no idea where to place them. After a bit of internal debating, he settled on planting his feet directly onto the blacktop instead of in the footholds. It wasn't comfortable, per se, but it was much better than his original position.

When he looked back up, Sora was giggling at him.

"What?" he said indignantly. "I'm way taller than you, you don't have the same problem."

"I know," she laughed. "It's just, um…well, it was just cute watching you struggle," she admitted, turning pink.

His stomach flipped over, and he fought the urge to smile stupidly.

"Well, I'm glad you were amused at my expense," he replied smoothly, making sure to keep his tone even and unaffected.

He was grappling in the back of his mind for something else to say when he heard a loud bang come from somewhere behind the park, not far off from where they were. The two turned to investigate the sound and caught sight of an incriminating flash of rainbow-hued light, not unlike the one that had previously taken them to the Digital World years ago. Yamato looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the disturbance, only to see Taichi sprinting in the direction of the light determinedly. After sharing a brief look with Sora, they both followed suit and ran after their friend.

Bushes and tall trees surrounded them when they finally caught up to Taichi. He was walking around in circles, scratching the top of his head in confusion before turning to face them.

"Didn't that light look like a portal to you guys? I could have sworn that the blast came from somewhere around this area."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing," Yamato agreed, looking around to see if anything was out of the ordinary, to no avail.

"But if it was a portal, what do you think happened?" Sora asked hesitantly. "Something from the Digital World could be around here and may need our help."

"Thing is," Taichi started, "I didn't see anything unusual anywhere. I pretty much searched the entire place before you guys arrived. You two are really slow, by the way."

Not even bothering to roll his eyes, Yamato posed the question they were all thinking.

"Well, what do we do now?"

The following silence was cut short by a shrill voice.

"Oh my god, you look exactly like Yagami Taichi from Digimon Adventure!"

Facing the trio stood a young boy with a hooded, blue shirt, gray cut-off pants, green sneakers, and, most notably, a pair of circular, yellow goggles resting on top of his head. Taichi raised an eyebrow at the newcomer and opened his mouth to say something in response, but was cut off by another cry.

"Oh wow, and Ishida Yamato! And Takenouchi Sora! Are you guys cosplaying or something? Your outfits are amazing! You look like you guys came straight out of the TV show!" he continued to ramble excitedly.

"Hey look, kid," Taichi began. "I don't know who you are and why you know our names, but what's your deal? What's this show you're going on about?"

Something about this kid and his mention of digimon made Yamato uneasy.

"Nice try, guys. Do you play the game as well? I definitely do! I have all my cards here with me, see? I was going to play against Hirokazu later today, he's really good," the boy prattled as he pulled multiple small cards out of his pockets, thrusting them into Taichi's hands.

"That's one of my favorites, there. Greymon, like the one Taichi has!"

Yamato and Sora bent over Taichi's shoulders to get a better look. Sure enough, an image of a Greymon was staring back at them, complete with stats and attacks they had all seen Taichi's Greymon do in person.

"These look nothing like the cards Gennai gave us to use that one time…" Sora murmured, her voice fading.

"What in the world?" Taichi whispered, more to himself than anyone.

"I'm Matsuda Takato, by the way," the boy chirped. "Nice to meet you guys!"

Trees rustled in the background, heightening the offending silence.

"Um, Takato…" Sora replied carefully, trying to find the right words. "I don't mean any offense, but where did you happen to come from?"

Takato shifted for a moment as if he just remembered something important, eyes wandering anywhere else but at the three of them.

"Ah, w-well, you s-s-see…" he stuttered. He looked around like he was expecting something to appear beside him. "Actually, I dunno if I should say anything, you guys might think I'm crazy."

"Crazy is our specialty, try us," Yamato urged.

Glancing around one last time, Takato seemed to finally yield to the fact that he was not going anywhere without some kind of an explanation. He rubbed his neck nervously before responding.

"I was trying to find… my pet. And I kindagotsuckedintoavortexandnowI'mhere."

"Maybe try that a bit slower there, buddy," Taichi grinned.

"I was trying to find my pet."

"Uh huh…" Yamato goaded.

"And then there was this vortex."

"Vortex?" Sora prodded.

"Yeah. Like there was this huge beam of light! And usually it takes me… well anyway, I ran into the vortex and I ended up here."

Yamato scrunched his eyes in scrutiny.

"So you've seen this… vortex before. Where does it normally take you?"

Takato fidgeted anxiously.

"You're not going to believe me."

"Look, just tell us what actually happened," Taichi blurted out, exasperated. "We've seen some really weird shit before, and I don't think there's anything you can say that's going to blow our minds."

"Taichi!" Sora admonished.

"What our foul-mouthed friend is trying to say is that you don't have to worry about sounding dumb or anything, you can trust us," Yamato tried to say consolingly. Takato only arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"You can call each other by your real names now, you know. It's kind of weirding me out that you're still using the show names."

"That is my–"

"What do you mean by real names?" Sora interrupted Taichi. "We haven't even technically introduced ourselves yet, you just happened to know who we were."

Takato laughed loudly.

"Is this some sort of joke? Are you guys really trying to convince me you're Taichi, Yamato, and Sora from Digimon Adventure? You're pretty good actors, but I'm not that stupid. Even though Ruki always calls me stupid. Actually, I bet if Ruki were here she'd be able to prove she knows even more about the TV show than you guys! She's the Digimon Queen everyone talks about."

"Digimon Queen?" Yamato mused aloud.

"Hey, you've got some nerve calling us TV show characters, kid. Maybe you were too young when it all happened, but everything you saw on TV that night we beat Apoclymon was real!" Taichi retorted heatedly.

"Oh yeah? Prove it," Takato taunted smugly.

At once, Taichi, Yamato, and Sora pulled out their digivices simultaneously and held them out for Takato to see.

"You think toy digivices are going to convince me?" Takato scoffed. "I have four of those at home, myself."

"This is absolutely ridiculous," Sora mumbled as she rummaged in her back pocket. Pulling out her phone, she clicked a few buttons before shoving the screen into Takato's face.

"What… what the heck?"

Takato suddenly backed up a few paces, staring wide-eyed at Sora. His eyes traveled over to Taichi, moved on to Yamato, then settled back to the picture of Sora and Biyomon on the device, shaking his head violently.

"No, no way. This… there's no way. Nope."

Nobody said a word for two full minutes.

"I know! That vortex must have taken me to an alternate reality where Digimon Adventure actually happened!" Takato finally cried out.

The trio eyed each other suspiciously.

"Taichi, you once pushed Agumon so hard that he dark evolved into SkullGreymon. And Yamato, you were convinced by Jyureimon that Taichi was your enemy when you went off on your own, and Sora you were the one that helped give Takeru hope by stealing Yamato's keychain before Piemon was defeated!"

"I…" Yamato murmured, voice petering out.

"How does he…" Sora started before lapsing into silence, staring off into the woods in a daze.

Taichi could only stare blankly at Takato.

"I stand corrected. This is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to us," he stated matter-of-factly. "Look Takato, I think the best thing for us to do is try to get you back to… your world. Maybe we can look around to see if there's another vortex somewhere or something."

"Wow," Takato sighed in admiration. "You're just as commanding in real life as you are on the show! No wonder you became a successful salaryman!"

"What…"

"Oh wait, but you wouldn't know that yet! How weird, I know your guys's futures but it hasn't even happened to you yet!"

"I agree, I think it's just time to help you try to get home," Sora interjected, not wanting him to say anything further. "Maybe you can help lead us back to where the vortex originated?"

"Have you started studying fashion yet?" Takato directed at her with way too much enthusiasm. "Man, I can't even tell where you guys are at right now. Have the others already defeated BelialVamdemon?"

Taichi groaned before responding. "Okay, you can stop with the future talk now."

"Did you know you finally cut your hair when you get older? I always liked how big hair was kind of your thing, but I guess you grow out of it eventually."

Taichi rubbed a hand through his hair worriedly.

"Takato, man, you've got to stop talking or we're going to just leave you here to fend for yourself," Yamato grumbled.

"Aww, I know, but I can't help it! This is just so exciting! Have you formed your band yet? Did you know you have a concert that digimon end up crashing in the real world? It was a Christmas episode!"

"Takato…" Sora whimpered.

Yamato had already started to stalk off when he caught the last bit of Takato's next outburst.

"… are you guys dating yet?"

Spinning on the spot, he eyed Takato as the boy whipped his head back and forth between Yamato and Sora.

"Huh, guess not."

Immediately Taichi bent over, guffawing wildly and pointing intermittently at his two friends.

"Oh my god, it actually happens! Sora, your wildest dreams do come true!"

"Taichi!" she shrieked, smacking him forcefully on his upper arm. Burning red, she covered her face with her hands and made a few muffled sounds that nobody could understand.

Yamato couldn't decide if he wanted to go comfort Sora or to run far, far away, never to be seen again.

Takato finally had the decency to look ashamed for his brazen comments. He looked down timidly started to draw circles in the dirt with his foot.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you guys."

With Sora hiding behind her hands and Taichi still giggling uncontrollably, Takato sent a sheepish look Yamato's way.

"It's fine," Yamato replied curtly. "We're going to go though, I think you can handle this one on your own, yeah?"

"Yeah," Takato mumbled. "I'm pretty positive another vortex will appear soon, so don't worry about me."

"Come on, Sora, stop being so embarrassed. Let's all go home and we can forget this ever happened. Right, Yamato?" Taichi said with a grin, hooking his arm around her shoulder, and pulling her back towards the playground. "Any parting words before we go, my young friend?"

Yamato could already sense that he should have walked away much, much earlier.

"If it makes you feel any better, you two get married in the end."

Yamato's last image before turning away was Taichi doubling over onto the forest floor, rolling around laughing, while Sora sank to her knees in sheer mortification.

He wondered if his dad would have any girl advice for him _now_ after explaining today's events.

He was really going to need it.

 _*.*.*.*_


End file.
